Disclaimer: This piece was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. The Blogging Banshee fully supports those on strike and wrote this review in accordance with the SAG-AFTRA guidelines. You can learn more about the strike and how to show your support by clicking the link provided above.

For almost every film at Fantastic Fest, I tried to go into them as blind as possible, maybe just reading a brief synopsis beforehand. Stopmotion is one film I went into knowing absolutely nothing about, and this world premiere ended up being the standout film for me at this year’s Fantastic Fest. This marks the feature-film debut for director Robert Morgan, who also wrote the film with Robin King (Mnemophrenia). Stopmotion follows a stop-motion animator living under the oppressive rule of her overbearing mother. After her mother has a stroke, the animator is faced with a personal and creative freedom she’s never had before that takes her down a deadly descent into madness.

This film completely caught me off guard, but from the very first frame I was hooked. Stopmotion begins by allowing the audience to connect with the protagonist, Ella. After so many years of being forced to bring her mother’s stop-motion films to life, she finally has the chance to live her own life and create her own stories. While Ella grapples with the guilt of not finishing her mother’s last film, she also struggles to come up with her own ideas that will live up to her mother’s legacy. This inner turmoil is the catalyst for Ella’s mental decline.

Stopmotion is a tale of a tortured artist driven to madness by her desire to create something perfect. Audiences have certainly seen this kind of story before, but Morgan’s film still looks and feels wholly unique. Combining live-action and stop-motion, often blurring the lines between the two, the audience is taken on a bizarre journey. Stopmotion uses both psychological suspense and eye-catching terrors, snowballing the horrors until the frightful, bitter end. It is essentially a look inside Ella’s brain, allowing viewers to see the world through her eyes. There are moments that might not make the most sense, but when considering the fractured mind dictating what’s on screen, it allows for a bit of creative leeway.

The artistry in Stopmotion is undeniable. The most apparent visual element is the stop-motion. The characters Ella creates are both beautiful and grotesque, only becoming more horrifying as the plot progresses. This type of animation is always a stunning, novel way to tell a story, but the way Morgan fuses the stop-motion with the real-life sets and people is as striking as it is haunting. There is one reoccurring image throughout the film that is never fully explained, but it’s easy to overlook when there is a plethora of beauty to draw the eye. Many scenes are enhanced by wonderful lighting helping to bring the living and animated characters to life. Not all the visuals are beautiful, but that is intentional. Stopmotion includes many grizzly practical effects, especially at the climax of the film, that look disgustingly real and will have many viewers covering their eyes. As if the visuals aren’t enough to make the film great, the sound design is also incredible. Every sound makes an impression from the soft sighs of the animated characters, to ghastly squelching, to the metallic squeaking of inner armatures. Each sight and sound masterfully elevates the on-screen horrors.

Another successful element of Stopmotion is the performances. Much of the film is carried by Aisling Franciosi (The Nightingale, The Last Voyage of the Demeter) as Ella. Franciosi expertly embodies this character, making Ella at first timid and obedient. As Ella’s work takes over every aspect of her life, Franciosi really gets the chance to shine by showing her character’s life and mind unravel. This is just another shining example of Franciosi’s undeniable skill as an actor. Caoilinn Springall (The Midnight Sky) often shares the screen with Franciosi as a strange little girl living in the same apartment building. Springall gives a nuanced performance as the little girl guides Ella, a constant mysterious figure whose seemingly helpful suggestions hint at a sinister hidden agenda.

Stopmotion is a surprising film using unique sights and sounds to breathe new life into a familiar, horrifying tale of a tortured artist. It’s difficult to believe this is a feature-film debut for Morgan. The plot alone is enough to draw viewers in and keep them on the edge of their seats. But it’s the phenomenal performances, creepy stop-motion, and unnerving sound design that makes Stopmotion a remarkable viewing experience. Be sure to see this film on the big screen to be fully immersed in all the gruesome visuals and disturbing sounds. It will be a movie-going experience audiences won’t soon forget.

OVERALL RATING: 9/10